#boonwurrung — Public Fediverse posts

So, how exactly do you pronounce #naarm anyway? Is it more like "are"/"arm", or "air"/"ham"? In addition, do people prefer to use "Narrm" or "Naarm"? Any advice would be much appreciated, more so if you're #BoonWurrung or #woiwurrung .

For context, one of my Year 6 students here in Nagasaki is really interested in English and foreign cultures. At his school, I normally give out handmade bookmarks to my Year 5 and Year 6 students if they can complete a stamp sheet (they earn stamps if they can demonstrate particular communication skills in English), and this student had earned a Naarm-themed bookmark (with "Melbourne" written on it). While it's obviously a small glimpse into an Aussie city for him, he was really surprised to learn that Melbourne has another name (which is the one I'm currently trying to use), and that "Melbourne" is a name that was given by the European settlers.

As a language teacher, I encourage the use of all available resources that a student has in order to acquire a language, and when it comes to teaching English in Japan, that also includes using and modifying the Katakana script. I'm obviously not an Indigenous Australian, and I do realise that I can be inconsistent in actually saying "Naarm" out loud, which is why I'm asking the question in the first place. That way, I can teach my students how to pronounce "Naarm" properly by using the correct Katakana.

So, how exactly do you pronounce #naarm anyway? Is it more like "are"/"arm", or "air"/"ham"? In addition, do people prefer to use "Narrm" or "Naarm"? Any advice would be much appreciated, more so if you're #BoonWurrung or #woiwurrung .

For context, one of my Year 6 students here in Nagasaki is really interested in English and foreign cultures. At his school, I normally give out handmade bookmarks to my Year 5 and Year 6 students if they can complete a stamp sheet (they earn stamps if they can demonstrate particular communication skills in English), and this student had earned a Naarm-themed bookmark (with "Melbourne" written on it). While it's obviously a small glimpse into an Aussie city for him, he was really surprised to learn that Melbourne has another name (which is the one I'm currently trying to use), and that "Melbourne" is a name that was given by the European settlers.

As a language teacher, I encourage the use of all available resources that a student has in order to acquire a language, and when it comes to teaching English in Japan, that also includes using and modifying the Katakana script. I'm obviously not an Indigenous Australian, and I do realise that I can be inconsistent in actually saying "Naarm" out loud, which is why I'm asking the question in the first place. That way, I can teach my students how to pronounce "Naarm" properly by using the correct Katakana.